Free A Guide to Quality, Taste and Style by Tim Gunn, Kate Maloney Page A

should smile when feeling down because the very act of smiling, even if not spontaneous, causes the spirits to lift. The same can be said about how you hold yourself. Next time you are walking into a situation that makes you nervous, check your stride. Are you hunched and walking heavily? This will only add to your feeling of dread. Help yourself by keeping your head up and feet light. Not only will you feel better, you’ll have a much faster start if you decide to bolt.
     
    And now, moving from the inside out, we turn our attention to that most fabulous of organs, the skin.
     
SKIN
     
    One hears how a particularly stylish person really “owns” a look. This means that they wear it naturally, no cringing or apologizing. How many people can say the same about their own skin? The time has come for you to really “own” that lovely dermis that covers you. Barring a gargantuan leap in the rate of scientific discovery, it’s the only one you’ll ever have.
    Delighting in the dermis has nothing to do with being thin, smooth, and wrinkle-free. Before the scoffing begins, think back to a time you now regard as the apotheosis ofyour beauty. The twenty-four-year-old may think back to when she was fifteen and didn’t really have hips. The sixty-year-old may remember forty fondly, but be assured, whether it was twenty years ago or two, they found something wrong about themselves then, as well. This is a tragic state of affairs, and although we may never escape completely, it is possible to view one’s present self in a far rosier light.
     
    Various cultural factors conspire to make the idea of being pleased with oneself suspicious. Perhaps it is the famous Protestant work ethic that has so shaped the West—the demand to constantly labor and constantly improve. (Or at least, to feel perpetually guilty that one isn’t doing more.) We tell ourselves that we don’t deserve loving treatment—not until we lose weight, fix our knobby knees, or get our arms waxed, freckles removed, breasts enlarged or reduced, eye color changed, or become a triathelete. Isn’t that absurd? This is not about the rational assessment of one’s plusses and minuses; this is mania.
     
    There will always,
always
be something to fret over, and too often the fretting takes the place of actually taking care of oneself. Worrying that the leather of your handbag is tired is absolutely ridiculous when your own legs are looking leathery from lack of care. The fretting and guilt must stop and the place to begin is in the shower. The idea to evoke is one of the pleasant, agenda-free bath times of childhood. No need for heated rocks or other spa trappings.
     
    All the process requires is the luxurious soap of your choosing and a mildly abrasive cloth. Somethinglarge enough to do the back is essential. If your idea of luxurious soap is Ivory because you love the smell, good for you. Begin by lathering up the cloth and starting with your toes. Work up the front of the body to the shoulder blades. Now, re-lather and start at your heels and work up the calves from the back side. Remember those vibrating-belt contraptions you occasionally saw ’40s and ’50s movie stars using? The idea was the vibrations toned the muscles while you simply stood there. Keep this in mind while scrubbing the backs of the thighs and bottom. Often we simply ignore the parts of ourselves we don’t like, allowing them to fall even further into neglect. Scrub those ignored parts, metaphorically, back into the fold! After a rinse, step out and grab a towel, preferably a fluffy one. Slather on a lotion or body cream, again starting at the toes. Choose a cream because you love how it feels. Whether you shop at the drugstore or Neiman Marcus, there are so many interesting things to sniff and try. This is not the time to apply self-tanner or some other “treatment.” Just relax. That felt good, didn’t it?
     
YOUR VISAGE
     
    Unlike, say, the elbows, one’s face is constantly available